泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] China's double standard

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

China's double standard

October. 11. 2018.

There is a Korean slang "naero nahmbool". The abbreviation, that seems like an idiom, literally means that “my affair is a romance, but other people's romances are all loved affairs." It is often used to satirize someone who is inconsistent or distorts the same situation to his/her advantage.

 The 2018 BRICS summit was held in South Africa this July. BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. They are major emerging national economies with a large territory, big population, and rich resources. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, strongly criticized the U.S. in his keynote speech. Xi argued, "While unilateralism and protectionism are increasing over the world, we should be against economic hegemony and power politics." The paramount leader recently repeated his assertion that blaming American unilateralism and monetary hegemony, China—as a key country, builder, and contributor in the current international system—would firmly support multilateralism and liberalize trade and investment. I don't want to stand up for either of both in the China–United States trade war. However, his argument is a typical "naero nahmbool".

 China is the best-known example of pursuing of protectionism. The country has used various ways of non-tariff barriers based on its huge domestic market. Today I'd like to talk about unfair trade practices in the content industry among many other industrial sectors. Tencent, the top Chinese multinational conglomerate, has rapidly grown by publishing imported games in the Chinese on-line gaming market where foreign game companies have been prohibited to directly access it. If Korean game developers could publish their games themselves in China, the world's largest video game company wouldn't have existed. Many internet businesses, that are so profitable by running the mobile games market, also wouldn't have survived if Google would have entered the Chinese market with its Google Play store. South Korean stars have been banned appearing in Chinese TV shows since Hallyu falls victim to Korea-China diplomatic row. A K-drama made by a local drama production company that I invested in is into its second year without passing broadcasting regulations although a Chinese state-owned company laid out the money in and a Chinese actor starred in. Online video-sharing platforms patterned after YouTube is making a big gain because it is blocked in mainland China. The Chinese government has helped the growth of its businesses—Baidu, Alibaba, Weibo, and WeChat, etc.—to build their castle while their competitors—Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and KakaoTalk, etc.—all have been banned in China. Now Korean games are even excluded from selling by Chinese publishers in China proper. Besides, many Korean companies, that signed a contract with Chinese businesses, suffered from economic difficulties or ended up declaring bankruptcy after receiving notice of the cancellation of the contract or rejection of deliberation. It's not making news anymore.

 We should be against the economic hegemony and power politics of China as long as it pursues its protectionism and unilateralism. China is not a responsible country despite its economic power and doesn't play a vital role in the current international system. China's claim about the US hegemony is far from a romance. It is only a play-the-victim love affair.

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] True journalist or presstitute

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

True journalist or presstitute

September. 27. 2018.

The price rises quickly but declines slowly, which seems to apply to various goods in the market. Companies, that increase the price of products they sell as soon as possible under the justifications, on the other hand, make all kinds of excuses for keeping the price high as long as possible. This is common in the market economy and I understand the businesses' position although I don't think it's right and just.

 The media is bitterly criticizing the government's economic policies. I've seen a lot of critical articles where the South Korean government is going against the flow, citing U.S. big businesses that perform well and even have trouble recruiting workers. Ironically, only a few years ago, they praised mythic "trickle-down effect" and insisted that the government must support large enterprises. There was no outcome over the past decade and no one apologized for what they wrote about.

 I read a ridiculous article where there is no way to protect management control and preserve corporate governance if the voting rights of conglomerate chairmen will be limited. The right given to corporate leaders doesn't need to be defended. There is no reason to help them exercise their vote. Native advertising—articles paid for and/or written by a brand that lives on a publisher’s site—that advocates chairmen's rights even mentioning the introduction of tenure voting—which gives the long-term shareholder additional voting right and dividend—makes me annoying because it gives readers significant confusion as to what constitutes an article and what makes up an ad. A South Korean media outlet published a net neutrality-related article where the right to telecommunications operator's property—telecommunications equipment—should be protected, on the other hand, ironically, argued that shareholder's voting rights should be limited in another article. It would be more like adperson, rather than a journalist.

 It's been a little over a year since the new government was inaugurated. As I mentioned earlier, a government policy against corporate's interests is slowly reflected. Companies especially increase their efforts to delay adopting the new one against the policymaker's decision when it comes to the policy that incurs an immediate loss. A fast-acting drug is like narcotics. It works fast but has big side effects. The press urged regulation of video games considering a disease in the same category as drug addiction and now asks the government for the drug-like immediate impact of its policies, which is a comedy. Numerous game developers have been growing under various regulations over the years. The press never supported the gaming industry when it went through a difficult time, however, now is siding with their advertisers against government regulations and policies.

 The impact of a new policy is not instant. It especially takes longer to infringe on the privileges of minority vested interest. I'd like to give some presstitutes advice to stop running native ads neglecting the fundamental duty to report new impartially before mentioning Koreans' short-tempered nature. A reporter, who runs an article-like ad, is no longer a true journalist. Video games and drugs shouldn't be treated equally and piece-of-garbage articles should be regulated. I support the government to apply medicine that improves its constitution while it would take a long time. Plus, I wish the game industry promotion policy could be together.

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Video game and the separation of banking and commerce

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

Video game and the separation of banking and commerce

September. 12. 2018.

Recently, I read an article on the subject of ease regulations on the separation of banking and commerce and video game by Kim Sang-Hyun, an executive editor in our paper. In the article, he was full of hope for positive effects: game developers such as Netmarble and Nexon run an online bank—internet-only bank, which can boost the local gaming industry thanks to ample capital and financing. I also completely agree with him about the aggressive investment in domestic games. But I do oppose to ease banking-commerce separation per se so that I'd like to deal with it this week's column.

 What does the term mean? It means that industrial capital should be separated from banking capital; banks are not allowed to affiliate with other businesses. Separation of industrial and financial capital is analogous to the principle. It means that industrial capital should be separated from financial capital; businesses are restricted from owning not a bank alone, but an insurance company or securities, etc. The word "regulation" generally implies quite a negative connotation such as "control" or "oppression". And most regulations are accompanied by criticism and opposition due to their ineffectiveness and inconveniences. It is hard to deny regulations are ineffective and inconvenient. So, why are the regulations made?

 Regulations are commonly used as a way to diminish the risk. The key lies in how to maintain their low-risk efficiency. If we can go across the road wherever we want, it would be very convenient and efficient. But jaywalking is regulated by law. Because it's too dangerous.

 While industry fields related to FinTech are globally in the limelight in recent years, we have often heard that restrictions on the separation of banking and commerce retards the development of financial technology-connected sectors only in South Korea. I partly admit it. However, I don't think that the growth of fintech-linked industries is positively necessary as much as we take risks to ease regulations on the separation of banking and commerce. I'd rather say that we need the separation of industrial and financial capital. About a 0.01 percent chance of accidents can be 100 percent if I, unfortunately, have an accident. There was a smaller savings bank-related financial crime in 2011. The amount of damage by the authorities was estimated at almost 7 trillion won. We hardly imagine how much damage a large bank will get by a financial irregularity. It's easy to lift restrictions but reregulation is harder than creating new regulations.

 Many CEOs of smaller video game companies say that it's difficult to let their employees follow workplace rules. They add that there are lots of backlash against new administrative rules. And the workers get used to the rules and the controversy is abated somewhat over time. However, chief executives would be the face of stronger resistance by the staff when they try to bring an abolished policy back. This seems to be the case for the separation of banking and commerce. It wouldn't be easier to strengthen the regulation again once the government moved toward deregulation for one reason or another. We deposit money with a bank because we believe that it is safe. Someone, who prefer the high-risk high return, may choose to invest in stocks, futures, or option, etc. Another would go to casinos for higher risks higher returns. A representative, who completely ruined a game project where many people got involved in due to a small number of troubled employees, would heartily agree with what I say. Screw up and one's way home is long and dark.

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Thirteen-year-old Infinite Challenge

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

Thirteen-year-old Infinite Challenge

May. 31. 2018.

Infinite Challenge—MBC's reality TV show—, which had gained popularity for the last thirteen years, recently went off the air. It is probably the longest entertainment program in South Korea. The show had included my 30s since it was started when I was twenty-nine years old. It is very difficult to steadily create content for long periods. It could be a really hard challenge for Muhan Dojeon which didn't follow any specific format. Most real-variety shows have an overall concept, for instance, cast members take various trips throughout South Korea during 1 night 2 days performing missions at a certain mealtime or live in a little rural or finishing village creating three meals a day and calm themselves. With a definite format, it's relatively easier to generate content. Of course, during the airing of the episodes, the non-dram program made lots of controversial issues. It was criticized for problematic content and a few cast members left the program due to unfavorable incidents. A barely-chosen new member had to unexpectedly join the military. Also, it found itself caught in a plagiarism scandal. Nevertheless, it's still quite something to keep airing the show for thirteen years.

 I've written this column for five years. Sometimes I racked my brain trying to find a new story or new subject and raced against the clock to make the deadline during a busy day. But I cannot but highly praise myself on my five-year constant work. There were many issues back then in the beginning period when I started to write; releasing a game on KakaoGames was a hot topic and a journalist wrote an article about a splendid-graphics game based on Unreal Engine. During this period, I switched my job, got a promotion, got married, and started to give a lecture on game design. Five years is not short.

 There are many newly-released games in the domestic market of late. Some of them are homegrown video games and the others are imported ones. Looking at top game charts, I can find a considerable number of long-time-loved games more than I thought. League of Legends, MapleStory, Sudden Attack, World of Warcraft (WoW), Everybody's Marble, Clash of Clans, and Sumonnor's war: Sky Arena, etc. have been stayed on top charts for a long time. Some of them are older than Infinite Challenge and most of them are as old as my column at least.

 Old-time-favorite content means that it has improved quality and has offered a variety of interesting attractions since the launch. Most game developers, that try to put perfection in the content toward the goal of launching, often poorly prepared to keep maintaining game quality after its release. I expect many Muhan Dojeon-like long-lasting games that are well prepared to be loved by gamers will be released.

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] April 2018 inter-Korean summit and mother's apology

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

April 2018 inter-Korean summit and mother's apology

May. 17. 2018.

There was a historical inter-Korean summit in April this year. The summit meeting certainly has various meanings for both within and without the country, however, I'd like to talk about Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of North Korea, who is receiving positive reviews from the general public. Negative public perception of Kim had been high in the past until the summit talks. But the talk led the public to shift to more positive perceptions. You can easily find a sense of numbers in many related articles.

 Not long ago, I went back to elementary school days while talking to my mother. One of the many topics mentioned was why she forced me to stop playing games. I told her that I could have been more successful unless she forbade me to the arcade because I am the person in the gaming world at present. I expected her to answer that she regarded video games as a stumbling-block to scholastic achievement. Contrary to my expectation, she said " I'm sorry." Summing up, she explained that the young mother, who knew little about the game due to lack of experience, just relied on a parent's notice with negative opinions about the game. And she humbly apologized for her mistake reflecting on what she hadn't a good grasp of for wise advice for the child.

 Most people, who are involving in the development of a video game, are indulgent to their children playing games. Because they are well up in the games. On the other hand, a few set their face against the idea for the same reason. Both of them properly account for what the game is anyway. In any relationship including the parent-child relationship, it's really important to know much about a subject. Persuasion without setting clear criteria is fruitless because the other party notices it. Parents whose word is smooth-tongued but untrustworthy don't have authority over their boys and girls. Many fathers and mothers around me aren't knowledgeable about the video game. One of the most frequently asked questions from them is how to reduce the time of playing a game. I usually ask back why youngsters should spend less time enjoying gaming except that it takes time from their studies. And I add if they ever tried playing games. I advise parents to state their opinion on playing games when they are ready to support their argument with logical explanations. If a reckless father or mother just asks me the fastest way to stop a teenager from keep enjoying a video game, I answer that the video game addict—if the child is diagnosed with game addiction—can be treated at a gaming rehab center. And I respond to the angry mom or dad that I have no choice but to give an irresponsible answer for the very irresponsible parent.

There are many people with a negative perception of gaming. But, I think, most parents don't want to learn about it. Which is a tragedy because I am a video-game lover working in an industry associated with the video game. I expect people to have positive recognition of gaming content as if they have changed their perceptions of the North Korean leader.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] The fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry (Part2)

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

The fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry (Part2)

May. 03. 2018.

In part2, I'd like to take a look at Artificial intelligence (AI), big data technology, and blockchain.

  First of all, speaking of machine intelligence, an AI game character in online gaming was taken a helper to make up the numbers for team play, and users used to make fun of the player who does badly compare to an AI character who is not good at playing the game. But new machine learning-based AI characters will differ from existing ones. By comparison with artificial stupidity, the advanced ones will show delicate movements like a human being according to the given situation. Taking advantage of intelligence demonstrated by machines, game developers can offer whole new experiences for users, drive new revenue streams and business models, or pioneer a new genre of game as well. Developers would let AI devise new strategies in a strategic game and online gaming fans can enjoy e-sport matches between AI players, or gamers may not visit user communities anymore for team play because of a brand-new AI-character business model. And, in the not-too-distant future, a fresh game in which a player needs to rapidly bring up an AI character to reach a particular goal may launch.

  Secondly, one of the most important thing of big-data analysis is that it is based on not causality but a correlation among large data sets. Data analysis was used to identify the causes to produce useful results—improvement of problem or performance—in an old marketing strategy. However, an unexpected result that has nothing to do with a cause may be presented by analyzing big data. For instance, anyone can predict that the umbrella sells well if it rains. But it's not easy to prove causation; "Why are click-through rates and downloads of banner ads on automobile communities increased after its rains the day before?" or "Why are retention rates of NRU (New Registered User) decreased with a notice for an event coming next month?"—these data patterns only demonstrate the correlation between two random variables. Businesses will able to serve clients better through differentiated marketing strategies and customer service by apprehending not only the exact casual relationship but also interrelation.

  Finally, there are lots of possibilities for blockchain. To summarize the video game-related part, it promotes the value of intellectual property rights. Due to the nature of digital content, there is no difference between the original and a replica. However, cryptography-linked technology can allow us to distinguish the original from replicas. It means that the rightful owners will be protected in different ways from unauthorized use without permission. An increasing number of intellectual property rights have been created and promoted in the gaming industry. Blockchain technology will enhance the value of not only the IPR of digital content but a video game.

 As mentioned earlier, the gaming industry is the front-runner in the digital content market. And 4IR-based advanced technologies are changing digital businesses. I expect that the domestic gaming industry will be advanced with the times.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] The fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry (Part1)

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

The fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry (Part1)

April. 12. 2018.

 The inaugural Gyeonggi Global Game Forum, which was supervised by Gyeonggi Content Agency, was held recently under the theme "Past, Present, and future of South Korea's Gaming Industry". I delivered a keynote address in the forum. Thanks to this column series that I have written for about five years, I assume that I played an important role as the opening keynote speaker. Taking this opportunity, I'd like to convey my sincere appreciation to The Kyunghyang Games.

 In my introductory statement, I needed to elaborate on past and current situations of the gaming sector and prospects for the industry in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. I kept talking about the past and present of the gaming industry through previous columns and I dealt with the future of the sector couple of times. On the other hand, I've never focused on a specific topic of the relation between the fourth industrial revolution and the gaming industry.

 Video game-related technologies typically include: digital reality—augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality—; artificial intelligence (AI)—intelligence demonstrated by machines—; big data technologies; and blockchain—cryptocurrency is how it became known to the public. They are applied in a variety of content as well as a video game. People can easily experience VR images or videos and access AR characters. And the Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to the AI can offer various content for users. Also, big data technologies help purchasers to find specific content, which they would like, by analyzing consumer spending patterns, and blockchain is applied to protect the intellectual property rights of diverse content. These technologies are contributed to increasing the value of digital content by and large.

 The game sector is the leader within the digital content industry. Now multiple game developers are made VR games and not a few new generations of games with virtual reality technology are released in the market. VR games give players a truly immersive experience more than any other existing game genre although this technology still leaves much room for improvement. This applied science is in its beginning stages, however, with so many platforms offering virtual reality games, VR amusement parks or VR theme parks have sprung up here and there. Increasingly affordable prices of VR hardware and improved usability also help the related market expand. Only a few years later, we may reminisce of players—who put themselves in a heroic character's shoes—on the computer fighting an evil king off or having a gun battle using a keyboard and a computer mouse in a first-person shooter (FPS). AR games—Pokémon Go is a prime example—bringing digital characters into reality offers a brand-new experience for anyone who plays the game. Many Pokémon Go fans, who took their time to look at their smartphone screens on the roadside at this time last year, made me think of the monsters living together in this world.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Golden boy and availability bias

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

Golden boy and availability bias

March. 29. 2018.

As I mentioned many times, I meet various chief executive officers because of my job. Leadership positions must weigh heavily on everybody. A boss of a firm needs to set a direction for the future of the corporation, make decisions, and pay employees' salaries every month. Envying the head's authority, staff members don't consider the leader's authority. Compare to the power which is easily seen, workers cannot feel responsible for something until they experience it. Even if there are no big consequences, I cannot help respecting countless representatives who have run a business for several years. Because I went out of business long ago.

  On the other hand, a great number of leaders tend to make the wrong decision. It's a natural behavior of risk avoidance because they don't want to take upon themselves for anything. The availability bias is a miscalculation that the chief executive officers often make in such a situation. The availability heuristic occurs when evaluating a specific topic or conclusion relying on not inaccurate data but immediate examples that come to a given person's mind. Media outlets seem to reinforce this tendency. The mass media, by the nature of the people they serve, is apt to write an article about something unusual. For instance, a newspaper doesn't print the story of a person who loses millions of won or tens of millions of won on the stock market on contrary to a man who made tens of billions of won. While repeatedly reading biased articles, people are apt to mistake talent for luck thinking that anyone can easily make tens of billions of won if they want to. Numerous mothers are reluctant to speak ill of their sons and daughters although they devote so much time to brag about their children. A legend about a golden boy—it's called "Eom-chin-a (literally mother's friends' son or daughter)" in South Korea—is credited like this.

  Recently, I spoke with the head of video game development. The CEO, a former talented programmer, was very proud of a self-made game that he had developed in person for several years. I thought that the game was technically mature. However, despite the high-quality work, unfortunately, programming perfection doesn't guarantee fun of the game. The company had to terminate its service due to a high-maintenance fee long after its launch. I cannot say for certain, but I believe that there are problems with game design. But the leader put the project failure down to lack of marketing budget for an hour in the meeting.

  Many game developers talk about how much they spent a promotional budget for profit. And they want to suppose that a specific sum of money would ensure some level of expected return. Without leaders' objective perspective on things, the matters would not be solved based on what they want to believe. If mothers don't stop nagging mentioning a golden boy, it would just make their children feel annoyed or less confident. I sincerely expect game developers not to make a wrong decision under the delusion about Eomchina.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

   Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Airbnb and Lezhin Comics

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Airbnb and Lezhin Comics 

March. 15. 2018.

I visit lots of startups because of my line of work. As the name suggests, start-up companies face myriad problems until they reach the goal. The matters may include a corporate member, an investor, a product, or a customer. The success or failure of a small business is heavily dependent on how it deals with the difficulties that all start-ups have without exception.

 

It's an unsavory incident of an on-demand food delivery service company which is now very famous for its platform in South Korea. A restaurant owner blackmailed an app-ordered customer by using the personal data that the user registered. Consumers have no choice but to disclose their contact-details including a telephone number and address to access the service. The fact that they can be intimidated by someone makes app users reluctant to order food on the platform. The company terminated the contract immediately and made an apology to the victim promising to provide the all needed support such as a new cell phone and moving costs, and so on. Coping with this situation wisely can pave the way for start-ups. Airbnb, a global online marketplace company offering arrangements for lodging, also suffered from similar troubles in the very beginning. Media coverage of a guest who messed up a house hurt its credibility. With presenting a plan to pay a maximum of one-million-dollar compensation to potential victims, the company deeply apologized to the host and immediately opened a 24/7 customer center.

 

Lezhin Comics, a South Korean webtoons platform for mature audiences, recently has been at odds with some webcomic artists. The writers argued that people on the blacklist were excluded from various events after they raised questions on the company's policy. I cannot ascertain whether it is true or not, however, the webtoon firm's handling of the issue went against what the other in both cases have done. The corporation announced that it would file a lawsuit against the artists arguing that the blacklist, which was personally made by an employee, has nothing to do with the company. It's a typical case of what Koreans call "Gap-Jil"; an arrogant and bossy attitude or actions of the party who has positions of power over others. In most cases, a subcontractor ends up losing in a legal battle against a contractor. Because the usable amount of capital and power between the two is far from equal. If this pattern persists, there can be little hope for the services provider in seeking the wholesome development of healthy relationships between Lezhin Comics and its artists. Also, more than a few webtoonists and users would leave the platform.

 

It's the same in the gaming industry; lots of people start their businesses and face various obstacles while they are developing a game or offering game services. Without coming up with a fundamental solution, the start-ups would lose their staff and users. I hope to see many game developers will solve complications wisely and be on a roll as good companies.

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Hero Maker and 10,000-Hour Rule

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Hero Maker and 10,000-Hour Rule

March. 01. 2018.

 

There is a Hero Maker, one of many webtoons—an animated cartoon or series of comic strips published online—on a South Korean online platform Naver. It has been serialized for 12 years since it began in November 2006. Hero Maker is the longest carrying webtoons on the platform after The Sound of Your Heart, Naver Webtoon's most famous work, which was first uploaded in September the same year. And I've never missed to read it from its first episode. Working on something for a long time is not only very difficult but meaningful.

 

Recently, many top-rated new games are found on the domestic game charts. For example, there is Lineage M: it may not fall into this category, Overhit, Tera M, and AxE: they had just come out, and Black Desert Mobile: it was released this year. The big-budget RPG games, which were released amid high expectations, are all doing great. On the other hand, several long-standing top-ranked games have maintained their position since they were released over 2-3 years ago. For instance, five-year-old Everybody's Marble and four-year-old Seven Knights and Sumonnor's war: Sky Arena still occupy a higher rank. Also, there are FPS Special Soldier, idle RPG Endless Frontier, and old school gaming Crusaders Quest.

 

Providing game content on a continuing revenue model for a long time means a lot in two ways. First, the long-term game services signify that a game development team has the necessary skills to deal with the diverse situation: e.g. updating, patches, recovering a hacked account, and in-game events, etc. Customer churn inevitably occurs when they don't manage crises or unexpected difficulties properly. Problem-solving ability is one of the development team's best assets. Second, users have lots of things-to-do within a game thanks to long-time accumulated content in the game.

 

An early game user has nothing to do anymore after a long time since its launch. A developer needs to update the game for a variety of timely content so that the user keeps playing the game. The periodical update makes the game provide richer content to its existing customers, whereas, it can be a high barrier to attract new users. Therefore, a steady-selling-title game developer tries to come up with a solution thinking about both sides. And users are very excited about its new game which will be expected to show a good outcome.

 

You may hear of the idea of 10,000-Hour Rule. Whatever you do, 10,000-hour efforts lead to big consequences. Supposing that you spend four hours a day except for the weekend—total 20 hours a week—, it takes about 10 years. The rule is still relevant although a recent study found that there are big differences among individuals. The development teams, as mentioned above, have already spent over 10,000-hours with deliberate practice. I pay tribute to the long-established teams and the webtoon artist of Hero Maker. Also, as a columnist, I expect to clock up 10,000 hours in ten years.

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Minimum wage & divide and rule

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Minimum wage & divide and rule

February. 12. 2018.

The minimum wage has been in the news a lot since the beginning of the year. Following the news articles, fewer people now have jobs, self-employed persons have suffered a considerable loss, and the foundation of smaller enterprises—that accounts for over 90% of employment in the market—is giving way due to the minimum wage increases. And they also say that convenience stores will continue to shut down and many people will lose their part-time jobs.

 

Frankly speaking, I just want to throw the mouse on my computer monitor while I'm reading those ridiculous articles which make me blow my top. In the case of South Korea, the average salary of regular workers is based on 22 days a month. Supposing that an employee works 9 hours a day, the numbers add up to 198 hours a month. The worker would receive 1,490,940 won a month based on 7,530 won: the raised minimum wage at the moment. Therefore, we can see that the negative articles say that about 1.5 million won is too high for working people who spend their considerable length of time at work. I believe that convenience stores would be mentioned most when it comes to the minimum wage. If a part-time employee at a 24-hour convenience store works 24/7, the store staff can work a total of 8,760 hours a year. The store worker will additionally receive 9.3 million won a year, reflecting 1,060 won—the recent increased hourly wage. For example, GS25, the convenience store chain in South Korea, has about 11,000 stores throughout the nation. So the second-most popular convenience store chain has to cover the additional 1 trillion won. The company's headquarters generated sales of 7.4 trillion won posting 270 billion won in net profit in fiscal 2016.

 

I get mad at the media that creates these part-time employees vs. convenience store owners sentiment aggravating their difficulties by harping on the minimum wage. Small and medium-sized businesses and self-employed people account for 90% of all private-sector employment, whereas conglomerates tend to save a few hundred billion won a year with fairly low employment rates. Samsung keeps on rolling getting its supplies from the cheap sources based on low-wage earners with annual sales and operating profits volume exceeding 200 trillion won and 30 trillion won, respectively, although the media criticizes the government's policy day after day saying that smaller enterprises will go bankrupt due to workers who get increased monthly salary from 1.3 million won to 1.5 million won. I've never seen an article that smaller businesses account for 90% of employment when the Press sides with major companies insisting that the government needs to focus on supporting them for job creation.

You may know "divide and conquer". The divide and conquer is gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. Current social frictions between low-income earners and smaller enterprises are believed a prime example of the divide and conquer. Political wrangling to justify the income disparities between rich and poor or disgraceful attitude to pass the buck to the weak should be avoided.

 

The same is true of the gaming industry. A couple of high-class publishers are dominating the market making trillions of won's worth of sales and hundreds of billion's worth of net profit. Increased big publishers' dominance against small and medium-sized developers for their interests will shake the foundation of the industry in the long run. It's shameful for the strong blame the weak. I expect that not only Korea's economy but also the national gaming industry would grow with a symbiotic relationship between members.

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Video game, copyright, bitcoin, and law

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Video game, copyright, bitcoin, and law

February. 01. 2018.

 

I read an interesting article yesterday. To sum up, Suwon District Court has overturned the original trial on the second appeal to seize bitcoin of a pornographic site owner, identified by his surname An, because the court regarded the cryptocurrency as the criminal proceeds. The ruling of the appellate trial holds significant meaning as bitcoin is included in criminal proceeds as a legally recognizable asset reversing the lower court's decision that the cryptocurrency should be exempted from confiscation because it is a non-physical object.

 

I want to leave various political debates and investment or speculation out of the topic here. I don't like to deal with the cryptocurrency powered by blockchain technology because I'm not a technocrat; notably, what does this technology mean in the content industry? In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, the difference between original digital content and replicated ones are not officially recognized. Regardless of copy, digital music files or image files maintain the same quality of the content. However, the characteristics of the digital content can be changed by blockchain because it enables users to tell the difference between original works and digital replica. Recently Kodak, a company well-known for its analog film with its historic basis on photography, announced that it will apply this technology to KodakCoin, a photographer-oriented blockchain cryptocurrency. It seems to intend to secure a copyright helping photographers with their creative endeavors.

 

Video games are linked with various fields in the content industry. For example, there are game character designs, video game soundtracks, and copyright protection for video games, etc. If game companies are supported by copyright law based on blockchain technology, they could attempt to develop new business models to generate revenue.

 

Just three years ago, I wrote an article criticizing an out-of-date court ruling; Seoul Administration Court stood for Korea Customs imposed a tax on an external hard disk drive stored video clips which were filmed in overseas locations. The world is changing faster than ever before. Of course, the pace of change in the legal field, which has to prioritize social stability, cannot catch up with the pace in the Industrial world rapidly responding to the changing times. But legal professionals, at least, should try to meet the demand of the times not to be gradually alienated from reality. So, in that respect, I give loud applause to Suwon District Court that ruled bitcoin is an asset because it can be of great help to content-based enterprises for protecting copyright.

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Byulbram and Pearl Abyss

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Byulbram and Pearl Abyss

January. 11. 2018.

 

Kim Gwangsam, a professor of Chungkang College of Cultural Industries, who is better known as his nickname "Byulbram", has recently joined Pearl Abyss, the nation's famous video game developer, which is well known for the hit MMORPG Black Desert. The news was very impressive for me because Byulbram is one of my favorite acquaintances and Black Desert is the video game that, unfortunately, I couldn't invest in due to complicated circumstances. I talk about Byulbram and Pearl Abyss today.

 

Professor Kim is well known for a one-person developer who is responsible for all things related to game development including video game designer, programmer, graphic designer, and composer, etc. Byulbram attempted many experimental things as a single developer or a small number of a development team creating Geunyeo-ui Gisadan - Her Knights, a side-scrolling action game Her Knights: All for the Princess, a fighting game Bloody Cross, an infiltration action game Silver Bullet, a creative-settings RPG Matterhorn. He has launched a game on various platforms such as PC, GP32 (Game Park 32bit)—a handheld game console—, smartphones, and Steam, etc. and served as the president of Korea Game Development Association. The former professor of the Chungkang College of Cultural Industries till quite recently is well known for his unique dressing style with a leather jacket and a red tie.

 

Pearl Abyss, a video game developer of the open-world MMORPG Black Desert, went into open beta in 2014 and now is developing a mobile version since its official release in 2015. The MMORPG is currently launched in more than 100 countries with sales of over 100 billion won and net profit of tens of billion won. Based on its results, the game developer went public on the KOSDAQ in 2015 and increased the value of its assets to 3 trillion won by now. The game is doing so well in North America a Europe peaking at No. 1 on the various game charts in those regions as well.

 

I've ever taught college students about the difference between "work" and "product". To sum up, a piece of work is an artist's message, whereas a product is a manufacturer's output for some potential economic benefits. Therefore, without the intention of generating revenue, the artist should make the piece only based on not an investor's resources but their own or patron's. Of course, I reckon that the two sometimes can successfully coexist. A piece of work having both characteristics in a coordinated manner is called by different names, for example, a masterpiece, a fine piece of work, or classic, etc.

 

Pearl Abyss is one of the country's representative video game developers showing good performance. And Byulbram is a representative single-person game developer of the country. I have high hopes of the two who bring together an amazing synergy, which will produce a good game that comes to be called a masterpiece or a fine piece of work.

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui